Read a full match report for the Heineken Cup quarter-final between Clemont
Auvergne and Leicester Tigers at Stade Marcel Michelin on Saturday, April 5,
2014

The Marcel Michelin citadel still stands, threatened but just about intact after a late storming of the ramparts by Leicester, Clermont repaying the faith placed in them by their fanatical followers with their 75th successive home victory.

They will have to offer up prayers of gratitude at Sunday services for the English champions rose from the canvas after a first-half pummelling to almost snatch the record.

Leicester had been reduced to 14 men, had been under the cosh for long stretches, yet they were stopped only yards short in the final seconds.

Leicester wobbled but never wilted. There was nobility in defeat, if no consolation. It was bruising, engaging and fitting for a face-off between two such proud institutions. They both gave until they could give no more.

Clermont will feel they are back where they belong, in the semi-finals of Europe’s elite competition, aiming to correct the failing of last season and go one better by actually winning the tournament.

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They lack the swagger and pomp of recent times but they still have plenty to offer, enough to withstand a gutsy fight-back from the Tigers.

Last season Clermont were far and away the best side in Europe but came up short. This season they are having to work harder, live off their wits.

Clermont are as equipped as any of the potential last four to trade blow for blow. They are what Leicester were with a French twist, an earthy, unfussy lot whose rugby is rooted in the ethos of this blue-collar town.

They kick, they chase, they pile in, they pounce on error, they impose their will. It is a punishing routine. They take pride in the collective rather than in the individual, although the loss to injury of one of their star turns, former All Black wing, Sitiveni Sivivatu, was a loss. They missed his cleverness as well as thrust.

Leicester were all those things that they will hate having ascribed to them – earnest, gritty, battling but, for long stretches of the first-half, out-muscled and out-classed. It speaks of guts but not enough sparkle, pride but no proper punch, desire but not top-end cutting edge quality.

That they managed to cling on was testimony to their fierce spirit but it was as if they were on the nearby volcanic Puy de Dome, trying to keep a lid on dangerously explosive material.

That they did so, particularly in a second-half performance that came from deep within, is a real credit. It was terrific stuff.

And they came so close to what would have been the upset of the season, holding firm when Thomas Waldrom was sin-binned in the 65th minute.

Leicester will be disappointed, though, for they had been growing with each passing week. There has been more drive to their attacking game with the return of Manu Tuilagi but he was seen only in sporadic bursts.

22-year-old fly-half Owen Williams has shown the guile and poise that ought to see him make an international debut on Wales’ tour to South Africa in June, and did splendidly with the wide cross-kick that teed up Leicester’s try just before half-time, Jamie Gibson plucking the ball from the air to feed wing Blaine Scully whose inside pass to his No 8, Jordan Crane was decisive.

Leicester were under real strain, though, at the set-piece. Clermont’s brusiers, Jamie Cudmore and Nathan Hines, got stuck into them at the lineout while the scrum bucked and heave.

Leicester lock Ed Slater has a burgeoning force and will mount a serious challenge to the locks just ahead of him in the England rankings.

It was Slater on the final lung-defying roar at the line only to be penalised with 20seconds remaining on the clock. He was the motor that kept his side churning and churning.

Leicester had been under such sustained pressure in the first half. Wesley Fofana touched down in the 22nd minute after a cut-back from Aurelien Rougerie and smart hand-on passing from prop, Davit Zirakashvili. It seemed only a matter of time before Clermont really cut loose.

Yet they could not shake off Leicester, Crane’s try and Williams conversion helping them to keep in touch at 16-7.

It was tough going. Twice either side of the interval they were marched downfield by the Clermont pack. They were in danger of being scattered to the winds but back they came for more.

Tom Youngs was a pest throughout, a penalty-ceding pest but none could fault his relish for the fight in strained circumstances.

Somehow Leicester defied the pounding they had taken in the first half. They knew that if they could hang in there that French heads would drop.

The one thing that did not drop was the level of accuracy from the boot of Williams. From hand and for the posts he was a constant menace.

One cross-kick yielded a try in the first half and another beauty midway through the second half causer trouble after being brilliantly taken by Scully. Williams kicked his fourth goal of the afternoon from that resultant position.

That was not the only mark of Leicester defiance. Ben Youngs had led a daring break out of his own 22, wing, Niki Goneva getting a romp upfield for the first time, the 60 metre sequence only thwarted when Manu Tuilagi was bundled into touch by Naipolioni Nalaga.

On such moments might matches turn. Leicester just couldn’t make the most of such sporadic moments. And that, in the end, was the difference.